


Everything To Lose

by tiger002



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:29:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23236243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiger002/pseuds/tiger002
Summary: A peaceful life can be shattered in an instant. Oneshot
Kudos: 3





	Everything To Lose

**Author's Note:**

> A one-shot that takes place in the Last of Us universe with original characters.

He stood on the balcony overlooking the first story, finally seeing the source of the sounds that he dreaded. Their distorted bodies against the bright sunrise couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.

He tried to count them, to see what they were up against. Seven against the front door, trying to force their way in. Probably others along the wall he couldn’t see. Another 12 on the front lawn. More on the horizon coming over the hills. Two he saw rounding the corner. He gripped the railing, his long brown hair covering his eyes. His heart was racing more every second. He wasn’t ready for this. He was a kid, or so it felt like. This wasn’t the life that a 19-year-old was supposed to have.

“Emma, Dylan, infected! Lots of them.”

“You’re fucking with me, right?” Emma called from what was probably the kitchen on the other side of the house. They found this place around a year ago, after the initial outbreak. And they lived in relative peace, all things considered. The house seemed to belong to some crazy prepper that was right. There was a ton of food stored, lots of non-perishable supplies. And as luck would have it, it was only a mile away from where Dylan’s truck ran out of gas. Their goal was the find a safe place in the middle of nowhere Arizona that they lived, which they managed to do. At least, it was a safe place until now.

“No,” Virgil said, seeing even more of them starting to come to the house. “We need to get out of here, fast.”

Virgil tore his eyes away from the horde of infected coming at the house, running down the stars and across the hall to the kitchen where Emma was making them breakfast. “You really weren’t kidding, were you?” Emma said holding a cooking knife as an infected banged against the window. Emma was Virgil’s younger sister by two years, and had her red hair tied up in a ponytail. She had tan skin just like the rest of them for all the time they spent out in the desert sun.

“That many of them,” Dylan said in shock looking out from the foyer where the infected were pounding against the glass windows. His voice was weak, and as Virgil walked into the entryway, they seemed even more overwhelmed than before. One of the infected banging against the window finally broke through, the glass shattering from the infected’s punch.

“We need to go,” Virgil said. “Fast”

“Right,” Dylan replied. Though that was impossible for him. Dylan had broken his leg around a month ago trying to fix a hole in the roof of this place. Without any doctors around, Virgil and Emma used their best recollection of TV to try to help. And with the crutches they fashioned out of some old dining room chairs, Dylan was able to get around fine. Though not quickly.

“Two, no wait, three of them on the deck. I’ll grab the guns,” Emma said, rushing to what they called the armory upstairs.

“You two should just get out of here,” Dylan said making his way through the house to the backdoor, the sound of the infected pounding against all sides. There were several sounds of glass being shattered and windows being broken with the infected reaching their hands into the house. But that’s as far as they could get, for now.

“No way, we’re not leaving you.”

Virgil and Dylan made their way to the back door. “Emma, hurry up!” With some luck they could make a break for the shed behind the house. They take out a couple infected, run, hide there, wait for the infected to leave, and then return to life as normal. However, before Emma could get there, a runner crashed through the door, knocking Dylan down. Virgil grabbed the closest pseudo-weapon he could, which was a spatula, and hit the runner with it, but it just broke, the runner pausing for only half a second before turning back to Dylan.

But before it could do anything, Emma slashed it’s head off with a sword. The infected fell apart on top of Dylan, which Virgil dragged off him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks Emma.”

“Shit, there’s a lot of them.” Emma tossed a shotgun to Virgil and the three of them gazed out into the back yard. It wasn’t just the few going after the walls of the building there were dozens. And a few of them were already making their way to the doorway, seeing their pray. “What’s the plan, bro?”

“You need to run.”

“Not happening. We’re surviving together,” Virgil said.

But he knew that there wasn’t a way out. He and Emma could take down the runners, get away from the house. But Dylan couldn’t do that. So that’s wasn’t going to be an option.

Two more of the infected stumbled their way through doorway. Emma rushed at them slicing her sword through the chest of one before turning and cutting the head off the other. Virgil then fired his shotgun at another two that were getting close to Emma. But of course, the noise would tell the others where they could find their pray.

“What about that passage?” Emma asked. 

“Let’s do it.” Virgil wanted to hesitate. “You two go first, I’ll slow them down then join you.” There wasn’t any time to hesitate though. There was no way out the house that would get them away from the infected. The house was surrounded, infected at both doors. Even if they did just go through the windows, they’d just be sitting ducks soon enough. Though whoever build this place seemed to be ready for this, building a tunnel out of one of the closets that went nearly a mile underground into the nearest small town.

Virgil reloaded his shotgun and took a step back while Emma helped Dylan to the bedroom where the passage was. A couple of the infected tried to make their way into the house but tripped over the bodies of the other infected. With a couple blasts of Virgil’s gun, they too fell over. Those bodies would buy them a bit of time. But before they could get any reprieve, the front door fell off its hinges, and the infected began pouring into the house.

Despite carrying Dylan on her right shoulder, Emma took aim at the infected with the pistol in her left hand, taking down the few in front, but that was barely a dent in their numbers. “We need to block them.” Dylan said.

“Furniture,” Virgil said, looking for something he could quickly use. Then he saw it. “The dining room table. Emma, help me throw it at them.”

“Right. Dylan, we’ll be there in a second.” Dylan unwrapped his arm from around Emma and started to make his way to the bedroom on the crutches while Emma and Virgil went to the table.

“I’ll miss this table,” Emma said.

“I miss a lot of stuff. On three?”

Emma nodded, as Virgil counted. The two of them hoisted the table and chucked it at the infected with at much force as they could, slamming it into those coming through the front door, creating a sort of domino effect with them falling over each other. However, that didn’t do anything to stop the ones coming in from the back door.

“It’s open,” Dylan said from the bedroom. Emma and Virgil took a couple shots at the infected that were the closest to them before they turned and ran to the bedroom where Dylan had the closet door opened, along with the fake floor that led to a stone staircase.

Dylan took the flashlights off the bed and handed them to Emma and Virgil. “Go ahead,” he said. Not picking up a flashlight for himself.

“Wait, you can’t be serious,” Virgil said.

“If the infected get into that tunnel we’re all screwed. And you know how long it takes me to move. It would be an hour at least. I’ll stay in here, make sure that they don’t get in. And then if it’s safe, I’ll join you.”

“We can take them here then,” Emma said, looking at the infected through the bedroom window to the back yard. “There aren’t many more out there.”

“Because they’re all in the house,” Virgil said softly, not wanting to pick out the obvious hole in Emma’s logic.

“I don’t plan to die here,” Dylan said. “Block the door to the room before you go. I’ll cover the entrance to the tunnel. Then I can shoot them one at a time.”

Virgil shook his head. That was crazy.

“Remember, I’m the one who taught you how to shoot a gun. Give me the shotgun, I can do this.”

Emma took a couple shots out the window at the infected while Virgil and Dylan were arguing. “He’s right, we should block the room so that they can’t get to the tunnel,” she said.

“Fine, whatever,” Virgil said. “The dresser?”

“That’ll do it,” Emma said and the two of them went to the dresser and shoved it across the tacky carpet so that it was in front of the door. They had no idea how long that would actually last, if at all.

“I’ll see you soon.”

“You really mean it?” Virgil said.

Emma then ran to Dylan’s side. “One thing before we go.” She then leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Virgil told me you were practicing how to ask me out. You should totally do it sometime soon. Like tonight.”

“All right. Virgil, give me the shotgun. I can’t die today.” And so, Virgil handed over his prized gun along with his box of bullets before walking to the closet. Before he walked down those stairs he looked back to his friend.

“This isn’t the end, you hear me.”

“I just need to live another day and I’ll get a hot girlfriend. I can’t die now.” The banging of the infected made their way to the bedroom door, but so far it was standing against the horde. Emma and Virgil walked down the dark staircase before turning their flashlights on. While trying to stay as calm as he could, Dylan closed the door to the staircase, before tossing the closest clothes on it to make it less obvious. While the banging grew louder, Dylan made his way to the bed and dragged the mattress off the bed and pushed it against the closet door. That would keep his friends safe at least.

He then turned to the banging sound that kept growing louder. He could hear the wood starting to cave under the pressure of the infected. They weren’t just going to give up. So Dylan picked up the shotgun and sat on the springs of the bed while taking aim at the door. He looked to the half empty box of bullets. He thought about counting how many shots he’d have, so that he could make sure to save the last one for himself. But he wasn’t ready to die. Maybe it was optimism that he was foolish to have in this world that had colored his heart with scars. But he had no plan to die today. Not when he still had everything to lose.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This was one of those stories that came to me in a dream that fascinated me, so I wrote it down. That’s where I got the idea for Dylan being on crutches, him and Emma having feelings for each other, and the escape through the closet. Unfortunately, it’s been about a year since I wrote the first draft of this, so I don’t remember all the sources of inspiration. But I’ve had some free time lately and want to get back into writing so thought it would be good to actually post this. I’ve also been working on my multi-chapter Last of Us story Shadows of Light so should have an update for that soon. And yes, the irony of writing for a story like Last of Us at a time when the world is very worried about a virus is not lost on me.  
> Also, as a bit of trivia for the characters, Emma is named after the main character of the anime Promised Neverland with me picturing her as looking like an older version of that character.


End file.
